Hyper-links for Integrated Pest Management standards:



4.5.10C Determine the effects of the integrated pest management practices over time

Effects of Integrated Pest Management Over Time



Negative Effects

In adopting IPM practices the usage of pesticides is reduced, but some is still used. Pesticide used is often poorly monitored which leads to too much pesticide getting into the environment. This imposes a selective pressure for those pests that have some resistance to the pesticides, eventually leading to pests that are no longer affected by that pesticide. As resistance increases, the only way to control the pests with the same pesticide is to use a higher concentration, which is ineffective and only puts more harmful chemicals into the environment.

The improper use of pesticides also can lead to poisoning of humans and other animals, by contaminating a water supply or plants they may eat, and then in turn pass the poison on up the food chain. A list of possible effects is shown here:

Cancer - Many pesticides are considered carcinogenic and can cause cancer if contact is maintained over time.

Endocrine Disruption

Reproductive Effects - Some pesticides can interfere with the reproductive system, causing birth defects
Birth / Developmental Defects -
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Offspring of various species can become mal-formed and lose the ability to survive, most known with DDT and birds' eggs, where DDT makes the eggs too thin to hold the young through development in some cases.

Neuro-toxicity

Kidney / Liver Damage

Sensitizer / Irritant

Leach or Seep into Groundwater - Pesticides can seep through the ground into water tables and pollute the water, when an organism drinks this water it has now ingested the toxic chemicals.

Toxic to Wildlife (Birds, fish, insects, etc.)








Cornell Pesticide Management Education Association
http://ipmguidelines.org/Home/home.htm

Historical Significance of IPM

IPM practices began as a result. Many problems with pest control began in the 1940's, with the creation of synthetic chlorinated hydrocarbon pesticides. The most famous in this group is DDT. Although they seemed to be the perfect solution, because they were cheap, and effective. A problem arose after a time when the farmers started to notice that the pests were slowly becoming resistant towards the pesticides. The reaction of the farmers was to spray stronger doses of the pesticide on the pests. DDT was exposed by Rachel Carson in Silent Spring in 1962 for damaging effects to the environment, IPM was born a few years later in 1972. Entomologists at the University of California realized that we were and a path for an agricultural disaster. They concluded that we had forgotten that pest problems weren't that simple and were ecologically based. IPM was created as the optimum way to deal with pest problems, by combining chemical, biological, and cultural techniques incase one part of the treatment doesn't work because of the other parts the treatment will still do its job (Ohmart 2002.)


Timeline of the History of IPM













History site


WORKS CITED

National Road Map For Integrated Pest Management. (2004, May 17). National Information System - Regional IPM Centers. Retrieved May 14, 2008, from NSF Center for IPM Web site: http://www.ipmcenters.org/‌IPMRoadMap.pdf</span>


Ohmart, C. (2002). What is IPM? In Protected Harvest. Retrieved May 14, 2008, from http://www.protectedharvest.org/‌learnmore/‌ipm.htm</span>